Documentary celebrates an old-fashioned Wisconsin institution

The supper club, as defined by Bun E. Carlos, drummer for the band Cheap Trick, is "meat and more meat … lots of beverages … locally or family owned … a real special thing."

Carlos is the only person resembling a celebrity featured in a new film about supper clubs in Wisconsin. He was filmed sitting in a pleasant-looking place called the Liberty Inn in Beloit, and his definition is one of more than a dozen that pepper the film.

Ron Faiola put it this way: "A supper club is a brandy old-fashioned sweet at the bar, a relish tray, food that you don't make at home … exotic seafood, prime rib. It's a place you go for a fun night out. You get dressed up because the place is fancy but not that fancy. It is a special place to go."

Few would know better than Faiola. He spent more than a year traveling to 14 supper clubs across Wisconsin to create the compelling, delightful and — not to make too much of it — important documentary, "Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience."

"This was hard but fun to research and to select the restaurants," he says. "I was trying to find places that had unique qualities, whether in the food, the decor."

And find them he did, hugging the shores of pristine lakes, stuck in deep woods and in cities; serving slices of prime rib as thick as a dictionary or battered, deep-fried turkey or firing up a weekly lobster boil.

Operating as a one-man crew, Faiola interviewed all of the well-meaning and, in different ways, charming owners, getting many definitions of "supper club": "No lunch, no breakfast. You come here for supper"; "Dark wood … warm and welcoming."

Though most of the clubs are in out-of-the-way spots, a few operate in urban settings. There is the Jackson Grill, with its collection of colored glassware, in Milwaukee. Madison has the new and relatively swanky Old Fashioned and the older Tornado, where, says its owner, "You can look at everything but the cash registers and think you are in the 1950s."

The past is present in most of the places, including one that began its life as an American Indian trading post. But the future is alluded to often, and there is a collective sense of worry that such places are not "fast enough, hip enough for the so-called younger people."

Faiola is justifiably proud of the film, which can be ordered on DVD through supperclubmovie.com. This is his second documentary, following "Fish Fry Milwaukee," a paean to one of that city's endearing and enduring culinary traditions.

"Fish fries are actually thriving," he says. "But the supper clubs are so old-fashioned. They are not building new ones, they are building more chain restaurants. It's my hope that in a small way this movie will contribute to (the) longevity of these places."

His waistline has paid a price for all the prime rib, fish, lobster, fried turkey, rolls and relish tray goodies he consumed in his year on the supper club road. But he has created an insightful look at an alluring slice of Americana. May his cholesterol count come down and may supper clubs carry on.

More from Rick Kogan: Listen to Chicago Tourism Fund Music Director Mike Orlovetalk about the upcoming "Soul Train"celebration, Mike Dikelskyand his band, singer-songwriters Jamie O'Reillyand Michael Smith, and Teddi Weigelon "The Sunday Papers With Rick Kogan," 6:30-9 a.m. Sundays on WGN-AM 720. "Chicago Live!" hosted by Kogan, begins its winter season on Oct. 13 and starts at 6:30 Thursday evenings at the Chicago Theatre; to see highlights from previous seasons and get tickets go tochicagolive.com.